Announced Ttiles

This section is set aside from titles that have been announced, but there
doesn't seem to be a concrete release date or specific details. They're worth mentioning,
as they'll more than likely make their release this year.

L.A. Rush

Publisher : Midway
Platform : Xbox , PS2
Racing Type : Arcade

It's been a long time since Midway has made a Rush title. The last game in
the Rush series was San Francisco Rush 2049, released in 1999 for arcades, and in 2000
for the Dreamcast and Nintendo 64. It seems like Midway had forgotten about the franchise,
until they announced late last year that they are developing L.A. Rush. Early details
of the game had me afraid of what Midway was going to do. Basically, they wanted to make
their own NFSU, complete with licensed cars, free roaming environments and car customization.

But after reading an IGN interview with one of the developers awhile back, a lot
of what they wanted to do seemed to have made sense. The free roaming environments, for
one thing, always seemed to be in the home versions of Rush, at least when you
do a free play of the courses looking for secrets (keys/coins depending on the version).
The stunts and shortcuts will still be implemented in the courses. And as for licensed
cars, if you think back to the original SF Rush, Midway did create vehicles that looked
like real-world cars (such as a BMW sedan, a VW beetle and a Dodge Viper), without acutally
using the names. So perhaps some changes can be made, as long as what made the past
Rush games fun is left intact.

Sega Rally 2005

Publisher : SEGA
Platform : PS2
Racing Type : Rally

SEGA announced some time ago that they would develop a new installment
of the SEGA Rally franchise for the PS2, and release it sometime in 2005. Wether or
not it will make it statestide is a question that has yet to be answered, as well
as what the game will feature. Hopefully the game will retain the great arcade pace of
past SEGA Rally titles, and throw in more courses and modes than what was delivered
in Sega Rally Championship 2 for the Dreamcast. But is it wise for SEGA to stick with
the PS2? After all, GT4 will be released this year, and I'm willing to bet that it's
rally mode will be hard to beat. This seems like a title that would be better suited
for the Xbox, or better yet the Gamecube, which has hardly any rally titles to it's name.
Well, here's to hoping that the game will make it's return in 2005.

Mario Kart DS

Publisher : Nintendo
Platform : Nintendo DS
Racing Type : Kart

It's not a Nintendo system, until a Mario Kart title is released for it.
A Nintendo DS version of the game is planned, but not much is known in terms of
game detials. It would be nice if Nintendo would actually create some new content
for this Mario Kart, rather than just straight-up port the N64 version (which seems
like a fairly easy solution for them). I have a feeling we could expect multiplayer to
play a fairly big role this time around, perhaps with more than four people, if the
wireless capabillities permit to do so. It's a safe bet to assume Nintendo will
have this out sometime this year, probably in August or September, but only Nintendo
will know for sure

The Fast And The Furious

Originally slated for release back in 2003, we really have not seen
much of The Fast And The Furious other than the preview that was shown on the
2Fast 2Furous DVD. The only thing I know is that it is a street racer, it would
feature licensed cars, and it's developed by Genki (Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3). EA has already
ran cricles around this title twice with teo NFUS releases, and other developers
have pretty much lapped this game as well. It's unclear wether or not there still
IS a Fast And Furious game in development, let alone when the game will finally
be released.

Ford Mustang 40th Anniversary

Publisher : GlobalStar
Platform : Xbox, PS2
Racing Type : ?

Whatever the hell GlobaStar is developing here is only known to them, that
is, if this game exisits. But it is listed for release around the same time as Ford
Racing 3 (yet still lacks box art), and I'm sure it's probably going to be another
lame-ass budget racer. This one will probably be even worse, since it's just one
make of car from a manufacturer (think Corvette), rather than a stabe of a manufacturer's
offerings. Like Ford Racing 3, this one's probably not worth waiting for.